For almost a year, I had been planning a Europe trip for our students from grade 10-12 at our school. The paperwork was complete, parent night questions answered, and we were off! What commenced was a whirlwind adventure as 30 students and 5 teacher chaperones explored 5 cities (Rome, Florence, Milan, Paris, London) in 10 days!

Embrace the unexpected

We decided to get a coach bus to take us to the airport so we could all arrive together; we figured this would be a more stress-free to begin our journey which involved a connecting flight from Montreal and an overnight to Rome. When the coach bus came to pick us all up, I was the last to get in and to my immense shock, it was a party bus. Um, yikes! I honestly didn’t request one, but in retrospect, I did find it odd when the tour company asked us exactly how much luggage we had because she wasn’t sure if our vehicle had the room! So we went to the airport with flashing disco lights and a student’s playlist which led us to our first of a series of karaoke bus moments. It was an unexpected surprise that we all embraced and was a way better start to the trip than I could ever have expected!

In Florence, we were scheduled to have dinner in the hotel which we absolutely didn’t want to do. Since our hotel was quite far from the city, our choices were to take two trains into the city to find a place to eat or try to find something fun to do near our hotel. We located a McDonalds, a 20-minute walk away and asked our kids what they thought. Let’s do it. What we didn’t realize at the time was how many roads we would have to cross as a large group of 35. We proceeded to create a “blob” for crossing the street while two teachers each stood on either side of the road to stop any incoming cars from running our kids over. The McDonalds menu was very different from ours; forcing them to navigate an italian menu, and the patio made for great place for our students to be able to sit together. In the end, this was a memorable experience for all of us.

In Paris, our bus didn’t show up to pick us up (an electrical issue) and we had to wait in the Paris airport for several hours. After contacting the tour company, they sent 6 Mercedes SUV vans to pick us up. Luckily, we had devised “family groups” of 6 students per teacher for attendance purposes. The groups were in alphabetical order which meant that most of the kids didn’t really know each other. The subsequent ride to the Louvre meant that our family groups really bonded and for the first time, really felt like a family. They learned more about one another, laughed, sang, and in the case of my van worried together over our safety as our crazy driver navigated the busy streets of Paris while texting (How do you say, Is texting while driving against the law in French, mes amis???)

Photographs, Consent, and Selfies

Most of our students took literally thousands of photos. They were in awe of almost everything! Some of them made sure to strike the right pose, in the right lighting, and made sure to post the highlights of our trip. We had great conversations about why they felt they needed to curate their photos (which truthfully not a lot of them were able to articulate an answer to). Others didn’t want to be in any of the photos because they felt like the scenery was too beautiful for them to be in it. And a few students didn’t take many photos at all. A few students spoke about this. They said, “I can look at pictures of these places online any time, but I don’t know when I will ever be back here, so I want to capture this moment with my eyes, my mind and my heart.”

Occasionally (once in every city), we saw an “influencer” taking model-like photos in the middle of public tourist areas dressed in designer wear. Students looked at them with a mixture of awe and disdain. It’s one thing to see the curated photos online, but kids recognized how many hundreds of photos the influencers took with the likelihood they would only post one and they were annoyed that they couldn’t look out on the Ponte Vecchio (as one example) because the influencer “hogged the space.”

We had created an Instagram account to communicate with parents, and so myself and another teacher took it upon ourselves to document our days (good and frustrating); posting items to our stories. I took videos of them waving at their families which I turned into reels (they tolerated this only because they knew their parents would appreciate it). Before I posted, I almost always asked for consent; I showed them the photos before posting. But, because we often didn’t get to posting until quite late at night, sometimes, we posted without consent. Correction. We did that once. Then, kids sought us out. “Who is running the Instagram account and can you take down that photo?” We didn’t notice one students eyes was closed or they were looking away, but they sure did. It was clear that they wanted to look their best, but also, that they were ok asking for a photo to be taken down if they didn’t like it which they will hopefully do in the event that one of their peers posts without consent!

I am the worst at selfies. A few students would offer to take me out of my misery and take a photo for me and the other teacher chaperones. And one student, who was taking Photography at school decided that she was going to help me become a better photographer (Remember the rule of thirds, Ms. Casa-Todd)! The kids showed me how to take a selfie with my front camera and .50; Ideal for a scenery shot. Basically, open up the camera and switch to .50 (wider lens), face your front camera on you and use the volume button to snap the photo. I had no idea the volume button would take a photo! It was so cute to see the kids take an interest in my selfies and I think I am a better photographer as a result of my extra lessons 🙂

Teen slang

On one bus ride back to the hotel, our tour director (from Rome) was asking the students about the different words they use and what they mean. We spent almost an hour learning about teen lingo (here is an example) I had already been told that I “slay”, but it was really interesting to hear about the words this generation uses. Language is always evolving. Here is a list of teen slang words and phrases to know in 2023 by We are Teachers.

Above all else, this trip reaffirmed to me the value of traveling with students. So many of them admitted that they had no idea the world could be so big and so beautiful. Travel is definitely expensive and for the privileged, but it’s also a mindset. There are probably gems in our own communities that are worth exploring. It reaffirmed for me that I would rather make memories than buy stuff and it has made me think about how we can make travel more accessible to more students. I am already planning our March 2024 trip!